Man Sues Delta for $2MN for Hearing Loss on Loud Flight

I have seen dozens of petty airline-related lawsuits over the years, but this one takes the cake. An Oregon man is suing Delta Air Lines for $2MN, claiming he suffered permanent hearing loss on a fight from Minneapolis to Portland because the cabin was too loud.

Kent J. Neilson claims the area around his exit row seat (10B) was particularly loud, leading to partial-but-permanent hearing loss in both ears. He also allegedly suffers from “disabling and severely aggravating” tinnitus in both ears because of the flight. According to his complaint, after grumbling about the noise the flight crew refused to land the aircraft.

His evidence? Hearsay that the FAs confirmed the flight was unusually loud. This was an A320 aircraft and I have sat adjacent to the engines before myself–yes, you hear them, but they do not reach the decibel level required for permanent (or partial) hearing loss. Is it not reasonable to conclude that if the sound level had been as bad as Nielson alleges, others would have suffered hearing loss as well, particularly his fellow exit row passengers? Do you really think Delta would have continued the flight if the noise-level was unbearable? I do not.

Perhaps Mr. Neilson should look into some Bose noise-cancelling headphones before he flies again.

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News,
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying
international relations, American government, and later obtaining a
law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel
industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in
the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House.
His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline
industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and
detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on
penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a
highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the
effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles.
Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of
points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the
direction and coordination of company travel.

7 Comments

I would give the argument some merit if it was related to announcements broadcast through headphone ports being dangerously loud. More than once I’ve had to rip headphones off of my ears in response to extremely high volume levels for PA announcements.

I personally consider it negligent on the part of the all involved that the volume level of the PA announcements can vary so dramatically from that of the content, particularly with volume turned down low. That’s putting people in an unnecessarily damaging position.

I complete agree with Matt about the high volume levels that come through the headphones from PA announcements. As an audiology doctoral student, I think it would merit some measurements. There is absolutely no reason why those announcements must be so loud, they are uncomfortable and I don’t doubt at least somewhat damaging!

Well it would be interesting to see what his ENT doctor will be able to testify to if he can prove causation between the flight and the hearing loss. Also I would think that the flight attendants would have some ear plugs laying around.

Also I don’t believe that if there was a loud noise that they would have turned the plane around. There have been cases of people having heart problems and still not turning the plane around or others who died and not turning the plane around. They can’t turn the plane around and land if it has too much fuel and also the fees for landing again or diverting to a non-contracted airport would be really high so I believe the airline would resist an emergency landing for a noise complaint.

I got permanent ( i am calling it permanent since it has been since late august) hearing loss from a flight descent and was looking for anyone else who might have experienced the same thing. I felt unusually excess amount of pain (to the point of tears) in my ears and when the plane touched down, i could only faintly hear. The audible levels went back up but not to where they used to be. So, now, i lost my job because of it, and insurance, naturally, claim that they are not liable. Any thoughts, any help?

The loudest, most ear-damaging sound I have ever experienced is while wearing noise-cancelling headphones watching a movie on a plane. All good so far, but watch out for the blast of an announcement made through the same (armrest) system. There is a HUGE and painful difference between the volume of the film (or system music) and the announcement. The latter is like an explosion from hell when experienced through efficient, quality headphones. I’m guessing 135 db. I fly regularly and have experienced this so many times that I now only use my Bose headphones for the content I’ve brought with me (laptop, iPod, whatever), and I put up with the airline’s throwaway headphones while listening to their content. I only have myself to blame for my tinnitus now, since I didn’t learn the first time. We can’t blame Bose for not including a decibel limiter in their $150 headphones can we? (even though cheap CD Walkmans had to have them). We also can’t blame the airline for having heard this complaint before (according to the crewmembers I’ve discussed this with) and done nothing about it. If they can’t equalize volume levels, why not just have announcements made through the overhead system, or at least warn the poor suckers with the ‘noise-cancelling’ headphones.

Odd that you would post about this now. I ran into a similar problem (I’d say 80 decibels, not 135) on my Delta flight from London-New York yesterday and was going to do a follow-up story. These were on DL-issued noise-cancelling headphones.

Whatever causes that, airlines and IFE manufactures should look into this issue more than they may have already done.